


CODENAME: Mockingbird

by jo19844_twfic



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Future Version(s) of Jack Harkness, M/M, TARDIS - Freeform, Timey-Wimey, janto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 07:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4910023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jo19844_twfic/pseuds/jo19844_twfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night Jack Harkness receives a little blue box with a message. A future version of himself needs help to save the world and there's only one person he can trust.  Ianto Jones must help with a mission, codename: Mockingbird; his whole future is at stake, but why is that so important?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Someone Borrowed

**Author's Note:**

> At the moment this is a prologue. I need to see if there is any interest before I torture myself by writing it.

Ianto Jones wrapped his coat around him, lifting up the collar for a little extra warmth as he made his way through the cold winter rain. It was three in the morning and Cardiff was cold, colder than he had expected, but the warmth of his coat and the speed of his stride was keeping the temperature just about bearable. He had parked his car a little further away from the hub than usual, unsure whether the car park would be open at that time of the morning and the journey across the plass was making his skin feel cold. Stepping onto the paving stone just in front of the water tower, the Welshman looked up at the CCTV and waited for it to move, bracing his knees as he always did when it moved suddenly. 

The lift landed gently and Ianto stepped off, looking around the dark hub. It was strange to see the place in darkness, every monitor black and so quiet. Had it not been for the low light of the emergency lights, Ianto would have thought the place was in total lock down. 

"Jack?" Ianto called, stepping off the lift into the darkness. "Where are you?"

When the Welshman heard no reply he made his way towards Jack's office, stopping in the doorway when he saw the older man sitting half-dressed in his chair, his bare feet leaning against the desk. 

"Ianto!" Jack said brightly. "Morning!"

"Barely!" Ianto shrugged himself out of his coat, knocking the rainwater off with his hand before hanging it up on the rack beside Jack's Military greatcoat. "It's bloody early and it's freezing out there!

"Yeah, sorry about that." Jack took his feet off the desk and stood up, pouring Ianto a drink before sliding it over to him. "Here, this should take the chill off."

"Is Gwen here?"

"Not exactly." 

"This better not be a sex thing." Ianto glared at the older man over the rim of his glass, taking in his unusually casual look of a pair of trousers and a white t-shirt. "Sex things can wait until decent Hours."

Jack chuckled and took a drink, leaning back into the comfort of his leather desk chair. "Sex thing?" He put his hands behind his head, swinging a little as though he had never suggested such a thing at three in the morning. 

"If you've made me get up and come in at this Godforsaken hour to do something kinky I'm not going to be happy."

"It's not a sex thing." Jack promised. "This is strictly business."

"In that case, I'll go and make some coffee." 

"There's not really much time for that." Jack put a small blue box on the desk between them, his smile dropping from his face. "I may not be drinking your coffee for some time." 

"What's wrong?" Ianto looked at the Captain, his brow furring when he saw the very serious look on his face. 

"As soon as I saw this box I knew it was important," Jack explained. "It's the colour y'see? That perfect shade of blue. Pantone 2955c they call it, I just call it TARDIS blue."

"What is it?"

"A sign," Jack said simply. 

"For what?" 

"I'm going to start talking and there's going to be at least four times that you're going to want to interrupt me, but please don't."

"Okay."

Jack took a deep breath, leaning forward to rest on the desk, his hands joining together just underneath his chin. "At some point in the next twenty-five hours - it could be an hour from now, it could be this time tomorrow - there's going to be a _really_ big energy spike at the bottom of the bay.You won't be able to trace it using the usual methods so the coordinates are on a piece of paper inside this box, or at least they _will_ be when they exist." 

"What's going on." Ianto questioned cautiously.

"What did I just say about interrupting?"

"Sorry."

"The origin of the spike is going to be a big box," Jack explained. "A big blue box exactly the same colour as this tiny little blue box." He leaned forward on the desk, his fingers pushing the tin box across to the Welshman. "A big blue box that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." 

"A TARDIS?" Ianto questioned carefully. 

"You need to take the sub down to the coordinates in that box and wait. When he's ready you'll know."

"When who is ready, exactly?"

"The Doctor.”

"The Doctor?" Ianto repeated, a little taken-aback by the mention of a man he had spoken to once, but never really met. The man that Jack spoke of so fondly, the man Ianto was sure Jack loved more than anyone he had ever known. " _Your_ Doctor?" 

"Not exactly _my_ Doctor, well maybe in the future he'll be my Doctor, who knows?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Ianto opened the box and took out a blank piece of paper, turning It from side to side to inspect it; it looked like a normal piece of paper, slightly crimped with a few tears in the sides, but beyond the surface and deep into the creases of the paper Ianto could just about see a golden shimmering glow.”

"Ianto." Jack sighed. "You promised you would let me explain, so just let me explain?”

"Sorry." 

"Inside the TARDIS, along with the Doctor, there are two other people. One who goes by the name River Song--"

"Catchy name." 

"And me." Jack looked at the Welshman who stopped looking at the paper and focused his gaze back onto him. 

"You?"

"Me."

"But you're already here," Ianto said obviously. "You can't be there and here at one time, can you?"

"I know it sounds complicated, but--"

"Is this is one of those time is complicated, I can't explain because it hasn't happened yet scenarios?"

"Kinda." Jack smiled a little, reaching over the desk to take the Welshman's hand. "So, when they arrive I cannot be here, I can't meet myself."

"That seems a shame," Ianto mused. "It could've been quite interesting."

"Why?"

"Well--" Ianto smirked a little, the same smirk that Jack knew far too well; the kind of smirk that started on his lips and ended in his trousers. "Two of you, one of me. I just thought--"

"As good as that sounds," Jack said with a smile. "It's really not worth creating a paradox that could tear apart the fabric of time for a threesome, even if that threesome has two of me."

"Would it technically even _be_ a threesome though? I mean, you're the same person, so technically speaking it wouldn't be so much of a threesome as a--"

"Ianto!" Jack's words snapped Ianto out of his thought. "Could you focus on the task at hand?"

"Sorry," Ianto said apologetically. "It's very early and you're a very handsome man.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Jack leaned across the desk, his mind suddenly drifting away from where it was previously. Had it been any other time, Ianto Jones would have found himself firmly spread out across the surface of his desk before he even had time to come up with a flirtatious rebuttal.

“I’ve noticed.” 

“Anyway--” Jack exhaled a breath, dragging his mind away from the flurry of impure thoughts. “Business?”

“Business.” Ianto straightened his tie, then smoothed it out. “Yes. Carry on.”

"When they arrive I can't be here, so in one hour you're going to take me down to the lab and cryogenically freeze me until they leave, no matter how long that takes and no matter what I, River Song, or The Doctor tells you." Jack's words sounded final. "I stay that way until they are gone, do you understand?"

"No." Ianto shook his head. "I'm not freezing you, no way." 

"You are." 

"I'm not!" Ianto said firmly. "I won't do it." 

"You will." Jack walked around the desk, crouching down beside the Welshman and took his hand. "I know you will because you do, you've already done it. Maybe not in our timeline, but in theirs."

"Why?" Ianto asked. 

"I can't interact with myself, I can't even be tempted to and my future self can't be tempted to contact me, to tell me anything I don’t know yet. I guess I know how my mind works.”

“Why can't we just deal with this like we deal with everything else, why do you need to come back to do this?”

“I don't know.” Jack shrugged, caressing the Welshman’s hand with his fingers. “Maybe we don't have the technology, or maybe we try and fail. I don't know why they come here, but I know they ask for you by name. And that tells me one thing.”

“And what's that?"

"I need help to save the world and you're the only one I trust to help me." Jack framed his face with his hands, then kissed his lips softly. "So are you going to freeze me, or are you going to make me beg?" 

"If that's what you really want." Ianto sighed in defeat, slipping his hands around the back of Jack's neck to keep him close.

"Thank you. We have a little time before we can do it, I've set up the chamber to pre-freeze." Giving him a thankful smile, Jack kissed him softly. "I don't know when I'll see you again. He could be here a while, he could take my place."

"I'll never let him replace you," Ianto said firmly. 

"He's me, just a little further down the timeline. Don't fight him, just trust him like he trusts you."

"He's going to know things about me I don't know myself, isn't he?" Ianto asked, pulling away from their closeness a little to look at him.

“You need to to remember not to give him a hard time." Jack ignored Ianto's question. "He's me and if he feels about you like I do it'll break his heart if you don't trust him."

"I'll do my best,” Ianto promised softly.

"You always do." Jack kissed him softly, then leaned back on his heels. He unfastened the leather strap on his Vortex Manipulator and removed it from his wrist, then took hold of Ianto's hand and pushed his jacket sleeve up, unfastening the cuff of his shirt. Ianto watched him intensely as he fastened it to his wrist firmly. "Apparently you also need this."

"Why?"

"I don't know, but there has to be a reason. I never take this thing off and I've never willingly given it to another person without it being really important.” Jack slipped his hand into the Welshman’s again and raised it to his lips, kissing his fingers. “Take care of it and she’ll take care of you.”

"I don't like the sound of this," Ianto said. "I don't understand why you would do this."

"You'll find out soon and you'll handle it in the way you always do. You're in charge of this operation and I have total faith in you to do the right thing."

“I don’t like how scared you look.” Ianto found his gaze and searched his eyes for Jack’s trademark sparkle, but it was absent. That look he always had in times of uncertainty -the one that said everything will be fine- wasn't there.

"When I'm gone you will know more about Torchwood three and the running of it than anyone else in existence. You know all the classified information, all the protocols and all the rules it's safe to break. So, while I'm gone you're in charge."

"What?" Ianto stood up, suddenly pushing back his chair and stared down at the older man. "I can't do that!"

“You can.” Jack stood up to join him.

"Gwen is second in command, it should be her, not me!"

"Gwen can't do it," Jack explained coyly. "She won't be around for a few days."

"What do you mean?” Ianto’s gaze darkened. “Why not?” 

"Do you remember last night?" He asked. "We were at the bar: you, me, Gwen, Rhys?

"Yes."

"Well, I may have slipped a little something into their drinks." Jack smirked. “Oops.” 

"A little what?" Ianto was starting to sound a little irritated and Jack felt the urge to take a step away. 

"It's kinda like a Torchwood sleeping pill. They should be out for about another--" Jack looked down at his watch. "Forty hours or so, so you’re kinda on your own." 

"Jack!"

"She would ask far too many questions and I don't have any answers so I thought it would be easier this way. When she turns up for work I'll be here - well, **I** won't be here, other me will be here and he'll- **I'll** explain everything."

"And until then what the hell am I supposed to do?" 

“You've got everything under control and you know what to do."

"What if I don't?" Ianto asked nervously. “What if I mess this all up?”

"I trust you and The Doctor trusts you and he's pretty hard to impress." 

"How do you know this isn't a trap?" Ianto questioned. "How do you know this isn't just a plan to get you out of the way, a different race using your connection to The Doctor to trick you into freezing yourself?"

"Because The Doctor called me himself from the TARDIS. You can't fake that."

"The TARDIS has a phone?"

"It's a big blue box that travels through space and time and you're surprised that it has a phone?" Jack laughed a little, stepping forward to wrap his arm around the Welshman's waist to pull him close. 

"I guess I never really thought about it."

"We have an hour to kill before I have to go, so why don't you give me something to think about while I'm frozen?" Jack unfastened his tie with his free hand, pulling it off completely.

"I thought you said it wasn't a sex thing."

"It's not." Jack pulled him closer, kissing his lips softly. "They need you to save the world and I don't know what happens to you. I need something to remember in case I don't see you for a while."

"You mean in case this is how I die?"

"Yes."

"Do you know more than you're telling me?" Ianto questioned

"No."

"Swear to me. Swear to me on something I know you would never mess with."

"I Swear on your life."


	2. 1.

Jack Harkness stood at the TARDIS controls, his feet wide to accommodate the shaking of the little-big blue box. He pulled one of the levers and it tilted the whole thing sideways, sending The Doctor and River Song hurtling towards the swimming pool through door sixty-five. 

"Sorry!" Jack shouted over the noise of one of the alarms before putting the lever back where it had been to pull the TARDIS back to a slightly less horizontal position. 

"Stop pulling that!" River pulled herself upright and held onto the other side of the console, pulling one of the radar screens down to look at their location. The electro magnetic storm they had encountered was playing havoc with the TARDIS, knocking it from left to right in a way she never remembered it doing when she was flying it. "Pull the other one!"

"This one?" Jack grinned devilishly, putting his hand over another control, then pulled it down suddenly, watching as River took a step to the left to combat it.

"You did that on purpose!"

"I was locked up for sixty two years, three months and nine days, don't you think I deserve a little fun?" Jack took River's glare as a sign that she was losing her sense of humour and yanked the lever back up again, running around the other side to type a command into one of the displays.

The Doctor had decided against getting in the middle of their power battle over the TARDIS controls, opting instead to strap himself into his seat. He watched them as they battled, River Song glaring at the Captain as he managed to steady the TARDIS again before muttering something under her breath about time agents being the worst drivers in the universe.

Jack ran his fingers through his beard, itching his chin a little and made a mental note to trim it a little as soon as he managed to land. Spending so long in isolation had caused him to care a little less about his he looks and his hair, which was now just about hitting his shoulders, was in definite need of a trim. That said, he did have a certain fondness for his beard; it was just a little bushy, not too long and certainly made his chin feel a little warmer on those Cold nights in the Boeshane desert. 

"I can see a gap in the storm," Jack said, taking hold of one of the levels to steer the TARDIS into another direction. "We're almost there." 

He looked at the map on one of the screens, and smiled a little at a flashing red dot that appeared. Cardiff was so close and getting closer made him feel a little like he was going home; it had been so long since he had been there, in fact it had been so long since he had been on earth at all, but the warmth in his heart returned a little. He looked very different to the last time he had been there, called so many different names and lived so many different lives, but Jack was still happy to be going home. He unzipped his creamy coloured jumpsuit a little, pushing the thick leather away from his neck as the heat from the console hit him; he took off his gloves, putting them into one of the pockets on his leg and took a firm hold of the controls again. 

River gripped the other side of the console tightly, trying in vain to stop herself from hitting the floor. She picked herself up, holding on tightly as she worked her way around to stand beside Jack. She took hold of one of the controls and pulled the lever up slowly, then turned to face him.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" She asked sharply, nudging his hand away from one of the controls. 

"I'm flying this thing!"

"Well you're not doing it very well!"

"She's got a point, Jack," The Doctor said from the safety of his seat. "It does seem to be rather--" He held onto his chair, his nails digging into the lather armrest as the TARDIS shunted a little. "Bumpy!" 

"I know where we’re going, besides I was flying this thing before she was even born."

"Then you really ought be a bit better at it!" River commented, taking hold of one of the controls for a moment before she felt Jack nudge her away. "I mean, what do you think qualifies you to fly it any better than me?"

"Captain Jack harkness," He said smugly. "The clue is in the title!"

"Oh please!" River let out a small laugh. "I wouldn't trust you to Captain a rowboat."

"Look, I'm a Captain, you're a Doctor--"

"Professor, actually!"

"Fine. You're a fancy Doctor, I'm a Captain, so just let me do my job and you go and dust a fossil or something."

"I'll tell you something I'd like to do with my fossil brush!" 

"Y'know when I saw Jack sitting in that prison, rotting away in the fifty-second century I thought, hey these two will get on, I'll bring him along for the ride." The Doctor straightened his bow tie a little and ran his fingers through his hair. "How wrong was I about that?"

"Don't worry," Jack said. "Once I do what I'm here to do, you can drop me off somewhere and she can be rid of me."

"Y'know it's not that I don't like you," River said soothingly, enjoying the slightly smoother ride. "I just have have the undeniable urge to put my fossil brush firmly up your--"

"And you don't think I would enjoy that?" Jack smirked, turning to lean on the console. "We obviously need to get to know each other a little better."

"You're disgusting." River returned his smirk, putting her hand over Jack's to ease one of the controllers downwards. "Typical fifty-first century boy." 

"I would hold onto something Doctor Song," Jack suggested. "This is going to get a little choppy on the landing."

Jack pulled the lever back up quickly, then yanked a knob out from the console before pulling the keyboard down to type a command in. He held on tightly as the TARDIS spun a little out of control, dropping from the sky and into Cardiff Bay with a mighty splash. After the splash came a thump, then several bumps, a quiver, a shake, one slight explosion from the left side of the console and finally an almighty bang. 

Picking himself up from the floor, Jack dusted himself off and offered a hand to River, pulling her quickly to her feet. "See?" He said. "Safe and sound at the bottom of the bay."

"Lucky shot!"

"There's no such thing as luck."

"Right!" The Doctor jumped out of his seat and straightened himself out. "Bumpy-bump, all fine! everyone in one piece? good!" He made his way over to the screen and typed something in, taking the coordinates from one of the dials on the console. "Now to send our coordinates and wait for your miracle boy to swing by in his yellow submarine!"

"It's not yellow," Jack corrected.

"I thought all submarines were yellow!" The Doctor looked a little disappointed. "John Lennon lied to me, and after I took him to see that diamond sky, too." 

"A submarine?" River questioned. "It's all a little primitive for me, sitting down here waiting for lover boy to come and rescue us in a submarine, why can't we just teleport up there?"

"The rift is unstable," Jack explained. "Torchwood have been monitoring the activity for a few months now, watching It get more and more erratic. Teleportation could knock it over the edge and our trip here would be pointless."

"Well then," RIver sighed. "I'll go and get the diving suits ready, shall I?" 

The Doctor watched river jog up the stairs and disappear into one of the rooms, then approached Jack. "I don't have to remind you about Careless talk, do I Jack?"

"Careless talk?" 

"He dies in three months."

Jack sighed and looked at The Doctor, a sad smile playing on his lips. "I know." 

"And you can't tell him how, why or when." The Doctor put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "There are some things you just can't change."

"We could take him away with us," Jack suggested. "You could save him, but you won't."

"I can't!" 

"I loved him," Jack said simply. "If he asks me I'm not going to lie." 

"Then on your head be it."

River reemerged from the stairway, dragging a large chest behind her, lugging it over the steps until it landed with a thud between Jack and The Doctor. "When was the last time you went diving?" She asked breathlessly. "I've unearthed tombs more modern than this!"

"They're retro." The Doctor smiled, rushing over to open the chest. "Modern is boring, retro is cool." 

"Says the man in the bow tie." River picked out one of the helmets; it was large and round with a viewing window on the front. Attached to it was a long, heavy tube that weighed almost as much as the helmet. "Are you sure you have nothing newer?" 

"New is no good," The Doctor said. "I'm very old and there's nothing wrong with me."

* * *

Ianto steered the Torchwood sub towards the coordinates on the shimmering piece of paper; they had appeared as if by magic, a mixture of letters and numbers revealing themselves in golden writing, shimmering as they appeared. It hadn't taken him long to get to where he was going and truth be told, Ianto had been waiting with the sub prepared and ready to go since he had left Jack in the cryogenic chamber. It had only been six hours after freezing him that Ianto had received the signal and now, less than thirty minutes after that, he had come to a stop. 

He moved towards the airlock and looked at the large old-fashioned cog. He had only opened it five times in two years, and three of those had been purely for maintenance checks, but Ianto rolled up his sleeves and opened it as if he did it every day. It wasn't easy, the mechanism had always been a little stiff and the last time he had opened it he had enrolled Jack to help him, but that wasn't an option this time. After a few minutes and a lot of straining, Ianto managed to unlock it and pulled it open.

Three figures stood in front of him looking as though they had fallen through the rift from the forties; their heavy diving suits making thumping noises as they walked towards him in formation. Ianto backed away to allow them to enter and stared at them for a moment, a little wary of the three suits, dragging their feet as they stomped in. He slipped his hand into his jacket and made sure he had remembered his gun; he was still a little concerned that it was a trap and the presence of the three strange looking figures did nothing to put his mind to rest. 

The figure at the front stopped and unhooked his helmet, taking a gasp of air as he held it by his side. Ianto didn't recognise him immediately; his eyes looked familiar, but the rest of him looked far different to what he was expecting. The man in front of him had a large beard and longish dark hair that looked uneven and in need of a wash. It wasn't until he opened his mouth to speak that Ianto recognised him at all. 

"Ianto Jones." Jack beamed a smile, taking a heavy step towards him. "Prompt as usual."

Ianto eyed him suspiciously, taking a tentative step closer. "What's with the beard?" He asked. "You look like Captain Birdseye."

"I think it looks rather charming."

"You always said you hated beards."

"It's been a while," Jack explained. "I changed my mind." 

Jack struggled with one of his gloves until Ianto took over, pulling the old diving glove away from his fingers before taking a step back. "Thanks."

The Welshman studied him for a while, casting his eyes over the other man. He didn't look like the Jack Harkness he knew; his skin was covered in cuts and rough patches, with dark circles underneath his eyes, his smile was weaker too and his eyes looked a slightly lighter shade of blue. There was something about him that just wasn't right, that twinkle in his eye was different somehow, lost to something else and Ianto stepped back. He drew his gun and directed it at his chest.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"You know who I am."

"No." Ianto shook his head. "I know who you look like, but I've fallen into that trap before. Shape shifters, memory makers, hallucinations."

Jack took a step towards him until his chest rested against the barrel of his Glock. "You really need to do that to trust me?"

River took a step forward only to be stopped by the Doctor who put an arm I front of her to block her movement. 

"Just wait," he said quietly. 

"As much as I have a love/hate relationship with the Captain I really don't desire to  
I see him with a bullet through his chest."

"You underestimate him," the Doctor said with a smile. "He knows what he's doing." 

Jack put his hand over the barrel of the gun and pushed it to the side, closing the gap between himself and the untrusting Welshman. "You know there's more than one way to prove who I am." He put his hand on Ianto's face and caressed cheek softly for a moment before pulling him into a gentle kiss.

Ianto let the Captain pull him in to deepen the kiss a little and slipped an arm around him . The kiss was soft and familiar, even if the scratching of the beard did have a weird sensation against his skin. The touch of his hand as it slipped from his cheek to the back of his neck, the feel of his caressing kiss, even the way he pulled him close was all too familiar, all too real and there was no doubt in his mind.

"It really is you." 

"The one and only." Jack grinned. 

Ianto pushed him away a little, taking a step back. "You should get out of your suits. I'll get us back to the hub and then we can do some official introductions over a pot of coffee." 

"Sounds like a plan."


End file.
